Miguel Cabrera To Play, Verlander To Start Tonight Vs. White Sox

Cleveland and Chicago had an odd year against each other. The Tribe won five of the first six while the White Sox won five of the last six. In between, the Indians and White Sox split six games for a 9-9 season series.

However, Owens didn’t show that ability to get on base in his 2007 stint in the majors (.324 OBP) and in 2008 in the minors (.346 OPB). Castillo’s OBPs in the minors: .371, .419, .411, .425, .403, .471. While it’s tough to expect anyone to match up to those gaudy numbers, the fact that Owens’ career OBP numbers in the minors (.365, .393, .333, .361, .348) struggle to come at least close to those numbers with consistency should have been a red flag for the organization.

Assists: The Tigers had 1,668 assists in 2010, which ranked them ninth in the majors. The Cardinals were first with 1,872 assists, and the Giants were last with 1,485. The top ten teams in assists were the Cardinals, Indians, Braves, Twins, Rockies, Athletics, Blue Jays, Phillies and Tigers.

I suppose Quentin may actually be a slightly better choice at No. 3, but all things considered, Rios is fine for the three hole. The book says a team’s No. 3 hitter should actually be filled by its fifth-best hitter, and Rios is right in that range. Mainly, it’s good Konerko’s production won’t be wasted on hitting third-he’s much better suited to hit fifth behind Dunn.

If the second lefty can remain seated for an entire fortnight, it stands to reason that there will be even less use for a third lefty. And if Sergio Santos maintains his significant reverse splits, Ohman would actually be the fourth guy you’d want to see against a lefty.

Even more concerning is the fact that Chicago has now scored a total of two runs in those three losses after averaging 4.1 runs a game this year. Pitching has also been an issue as the team’s ERA has climbed to 4.07, ranking it ninth in the AL. Left-hander John Danks will get the start in this one for the sale jerseys. He is 2-8 this season with a 4.54 ERA but has managed to win his last two outings by giving up a total of two earned runs in 15 innings pitched.

Cleveland, which saw its season-best 7-game win streak snapped on Saturday, had six different relief pitchers go a single inning each after Germano (0-3) went the first two, giving up five runs on seven hits with two strike outs.